Doulabella

I had a beautiful birth and I owe it in part to Debbie. Debbie is an amazing doula. She is intuitive, she knew my needs before I even said anything. Her presence is calming, like a friend you’ve known forever. She worked beautifully as a team with my husband and encouraged my husband and I. She helped me breathe, focus and stay in the zone while my hubby rubbed my back. She has a lot of experience and has taught many of the doulas in the area. I highly recommend her.

I am so saddened that I did not have the experience the other 2 woman on here had. I gathered the $ 900 from a work shower, my step-​father, and my partner in order to provide myself with a supportive person who would provide comfort care and emotional support. I spent a great deal of care and time clarifying what I wanted during birth and labor. Debbie seemed to agree to provide guidance for my partner with how to ease my labor and to create a spiritual atmosphere with direction on methods during contractions to help with pain.
This did not occur. She showed up to the hospital and hovered over me. I asked her to give me some room. She just sat across the room and did nothing. So I asked her to read me some affirmations to help me with the intense contractions every 3 – 5 minutes. She would t even speak up so I could hear her when I asked. She didn’t even read the affirmations– she kept reading the first lines over and over. When I asked for something more she didn’t read more.
Her energy was low and she did to seem to be present or fully awake. She didn’t communicate with my partner at all. She did nothing but linger and offered nothing to help ease the contractions that left me vomiting.
I wasn’t progressing so was sent home. She said she was going to sleep and call her when things got more intense. My contractions were already intense– they remained that way for 33 hours. She was present for 5 hours of the 33. I didn’t have her come back to the hospital for the second round because she was so unresponsive and created more stress trying to find ways for her to be useful since she took no initiative.
She didn’t check up on me after birth either or offer comforting words. Her energy was blaming and unhelpful. I asked her for a partial refund as she did not provide me with comfort care and didn’t help me in my birth. She responded with a resounding no and blamed me for the experience being poor. She also stated that her family member was passing and another had a heart attack so she could not address my concerns.
I don’t think this was professional. However perhaps these tragedies affected her performance. Additionally, she has been doing this for decades and most people who know her are surprised she is still doing doula work at her age. Her age may have also contributed to her not hearing my requests and being very tired and not present at the birth.
However there is no excuse for blaming the labor ing mom for not wanting to be touched or for wanting her partner to be coached to help her. Debbie was passive aggressive in her responses and ignored many questions and statements made respectfully by this reviewer.
We were ripped off. We are a financially struggling first time family and Debbie wouldn’t even consider a partial refund despite not only not providing helpful service but creating stress and discomfort. She has left a lasting negative impression in my birth experience.
Kaiser on the other hand was great and were very supportive thank god.
I hear amazing experiences with doulas and I’m sad I missed out and was basically swindled out of a grand.
Be warned. I am sickened whenever vulnerable people are taken advantage of and a fair resolution is not offered.

Debbie was such a great doula! It was wonderful to have her there, knowing the process and helping to let us know what was normal! Labor is kind of scary, but it was SO comforting to have her there. It was great for my husband, too. It helped him to remain calm when I was going through intense labor. I could not recommend having her there, more!
She also took some great pictures during the labor.

I would HIGHLY recommend Debbie with Doulabella to anyone considering a doula to be with them during their labor and delivery. I did not have an easy labor or birth however my husband and I were so grateful we had made the decision to hire Debbie to be by our side through the entire process. It was very comforting for both of us to have someone experienced to turn to with questions, fears, concerns, ect. She even helped me by giving me exercises that turned my baby from the posterior position, preventing the dreaded back labor. Debbie was very knowledgeable, sweet, and comforting and never over stepped our boundaries nor those of the hospital. Due to my complications I had many difficult decisions to make while laboring and I had confidence throughout knowing I had Debbie by my side to consult and help guide, encourage and comfort myself AND my husband. Thank you Debbie!